In the Anthropocene (As We Sow, So Shall we Reap)

Staring at the closed ticket-window
all of China behind me
already stood in line half the day
              shuts just as I reach

which gentle overseer hovers
        doubtless over these billions
               with-holding the plan;
everyone else might just
            strip & fuck right on the floor
mass-production of the species
engineered like any other.

No-one knows
the girl in tight shorts    a thousand yelling men     dwarfen guy
with a little boy he drags beside the bars
the seething ones still coming

no-one knows
where they’re going
willing to wait now

for the Great Harvest.

Xiamen, China 10.VII.2011

Author: Martin Kovan

Martin Kovan is an Australian poet and writer of prose fiction and non-fiction. He also works in academic Buddhist studies, ethics and philosophy, based at the University of Melbourne. He has spent some years in South Asia, including working inside Burma and neighbouring countries, before and during its recent democratic transition View all posts by Martin Kovan